Who are you on LinkedIn's stage?

If you’re an employee, business owner or freelance worker looking to expand your professional network and career, forget cold-calling, paper CVs or introductory emails that end-up as spam – the times have changed.

LinkedIn is now the number one channel used to distribute content, with over 8 million professionals using the platform just in Australia.

However, despite the wealth of opportunities that LinkedIn can provide, very few Australians utilise it to its full capacity.

So, whether you’re a business owner, employee, or freelancer, here are our tips on how you can get the best out of LinkedIn.

Business owners, employers, and public figures

If you own a business, are a public figure looking to grow your personal brand or are a larger corporate employer, you should be using LinkedIn.

With its large audience and easy access to influential companies and individuals, LinkedIn can help you to:

• Expand your referral networks

• Locate and identify new sales leads

• Build a following around your brand

• Find small business clients

• Share content to drive industry conversations

Employees

As an employee LinkedIn is an invaluable site. Even if you’re happily employed and not looking to change jobs, LinkedIn can provide you with a platform to showcase your professional experience and knowledge. LinkedIn can also help you share your thoughts and ideas to establish yourself as a thought leader in your industry.

In order to get the most out of LinkedIn as an employee you should:

• Interact with other users as much as possible - like, post and share content

• Connect and build relationships with key ‘influencers’ (users with a high number of followers)

• Write endorsements for people you know - this will increase your chances of receiving a professional endorsement from someone else

• Write and share industry specific content

If you are looking for work opportunities, LinkedIn also has a ‘jobs’ section which showcases ads that may be of interest to you based on your experience.

Freelancers

You might be thinking that LinkedIn is only for full-time workers or business owners – well, think again.

If you’re looking for more opportunities or want to grow your portfolio of clients on LinkedIn you should:

• Join groups – professional groups enable you to connect with people who are interested in or working in the same industry. Even if you’re not looking for work, joining an industry group will help you to connect with likeminded people and grow your network.

• Put your work status in your headline – if you’re looking for work, LinkedIn encourages its users to put this in your profile headline. That way you will show up to recruiters and employers who are looking for staff. It also highlights to your followers that you are available to work, which could create unknown opportunities.

• Put your professional website on your profile and examples of recent work or projects you’ve completed to showcase your talents. LinkedIn is a social platform, so regardless of whether you’re the lead, supporting or guest star user interacting with other people is paramount. So, step on stage and start sharing and remember, always keep it professional.